Behind the Stacks
by Moop Ytteld
Summary: Remus askes Lily out for James, once again. Though, it appears Lily still isn't interested in Potter. RL.


"Lily, won't you just consider it?" Remus intoned, as if it was a ritual he was quite accustomed too. Once again, James had bullied Remus into asking Lily out for him. She was sure Remus had waited until she was in the library to corner her because he didn't want a scene in the common room.

His response, as always, was an eye roll from the spunky red-head. This time, however, it seemed more of an eye roll formed off habit, and seemed to be half-hearted. "How much is he paying you this time, Remus? Three boxes of chocolate? He must of upped the price since last time I _did_ curse 'Shove it, Potter' on the top of your head."

Remus grinned at her. "Four, actually."

Lily eyed him appraisingly, but with good humor. "I would've put 'where the sun doesn't shine,' but it wouldn't fit." She smirked at him, "You, Remus Lupin, have an unfortunately small forehead."

"I'm sure you could fix that with a good Bloating Hex. You're clever enough." Remus told her quite gravely, but she saw his mouth had given a little quirk upward.

"It crossed my mind. As it was, I felt bad enough about cursing you instead of him."

"It was a tricky spell, took a good day for me to find the countercharm. It was almost worth it, though, to see James glowering every time he saw me."

"Honestly, Remus, I don't see why you run around with them. What could you guys have in common?" Lily shook her head. Remus really was a pleasant person to be around, though she couldn't stand being in the same room with either James or Sirius for a long amount of time. Sometimes she wondered how everyone didn't suffocate under their huge egos.

Remus gave a small shrug, and Lily sighed. She'd asked him many times to explain it to her, but each time he answered nondescriptly.

An awkward silence ensued for a few seconds before Lily broke it.

"I suppose you're free to run off and tell James that I've turned him down once again." Lily said, their conversation seeming to come to an end. She wished she hadn't brought his choice of friends up. She'd only said it as a tangent of thought, but each time she did, Remus seemed to clam up.

"No words of love to accompany it? Unless you're planning on tattooing them to my forehead again?" Remus smiled playfully, and like that, all the tension in the air dissolved in an instant.

Lily put a finger to her chin in mock thought. "Hmmmm. After the fifty-seventh time, I seem to have run out of witty ideas. It'll be a shame if I have to start recycling old insults."

"I thought your last message—'Eat dung,' if I remember correctly—was extremely poetic." Remus managed to say this with a completely straight face.

Lily laughed. "In my defense, he had just interrupted my time with Kingsley." She gave him a significant glance.

"Oh." Remus looked slightly embarrassed. "He interrupted, how, exactly?"

Lily gave him a mischievous grin. "Let's just say I paid him back for it."

"I suppose that was the time his hair was pink, then?" Remus snorted. "James said he couldn't figure out who did it to him."

"Oh, I'm not sure." Lily looked at him, with a face she hoped portrayed perfect innocence. She thought the slightly evil smile on her face might give it away, though. "Say, do you have a spare copy of _Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them_? I've lent my copy out." Remus began to laugh amusedly.

"It was you, then." Once Remus had stopped laughing, he leaned in closer to her, whispering conspicuously. "James wasn't able to charm it back for weeks. He had to sneak down to Hogsmeade and express order Muggle dye to keep it black. He was furious." Remus leaned back, laughing appreciatively.

"Are you serious?" Lily giggled before she could stop herself. Giggled. She _never_ giggled for Remus Lupin. Not since third year anyways. It had been quite clear that he wasn't interested by then, and she had simply moved on. But there it was. She had giggled.

"Quite. He tried everything. I think Sirius knew the Countercharm the whole time, but he was too busy laughing his head off to tell James." Remus smiled fondly, and Lily understood that Remus didn't necessarily agree with everything his friends did, but he did have fun watching them. Even Lily had to admit they were a bit amusing.

"Don't tell him I did it, please? He's already found out the Countercharm for the charm I use to straighten my hair, and he's used it twice already." Lily scowled. James had done it in the most inopportune moments possible. She'd been flirting with a seventh year Hufflepuff when it happened the first time, and she'd spotted him sulking nearby. She had promptly cursed him, but it still didn't save her the embarrassing moment of her hair springing out. And really, she'd rather not think about the other time it had happened.

"Don't worry." Remus glanced over at the clock in the library.

"Will Potter come looking if you're not back soon?" Lily asked playfully, though as soon as it passed her lips, it occurred to her that she wouldn't put it past James to actually come.

"I don't think so." Remus answered, but he looked rather unsure of his answer too.

"You should be getting back then. If Potter comes looking for you, he'll try to flirt with me, and I'm not sure I could bare it if he rustled his hair one more time in my presence." Lily really would have liked to continue her conversation with Remus, but she didn't really want James to come running along and ruin a perfectly good moment.

"Well, then bye, I suppose. Any parting words for James?" Oh, drat. She'd forgotten. Lily was at wits end; there seemed to be nothing that would make James leave her be. She looked over at Remus for help, and suddenly an idea popped into her head.

"Tell him I did this." Lily smiled impishly at the bewildered Prefect. She leaned up and pulled his head towards hers. Her heart was beating insanely fast, but as her hands were then entangled in his hair, she knew it was too late to turn back. So without another wasted second, she kissed him.

It was nice. Well, Lily amended to herself, his lips _were _a bit chapped, and his mouth _was_ slightly open in surprise. But really, she'd had kisses much worse than that. Besides, most of those kisses didn't inspire her body to tingle all over, and her stomach to do cartwheels. After a second, Remus began to return her kiss, and that tingle she felt was gradually increasing in her. Lily decided she'd take advantage of the fact that his mouth was open, and started to explore the inside of it. He was a bit clumsy and inexperienced, and didn't really seem to know what to do with his tongue. Lily wasted no time in showing him. His hands reached out for her thighs, and she happily let him hold her there. For a good minute, they snogged. Remus became better and better with every passing second, and Lily was thoroughly enjoying the kiss. She had forgotten that it was all just a joke on James, and Remus had forgotten Lily was James' long-lasting crush.

They just stood there, snogging, with her hands wrapped up in his hair, and his hands wrapped around her waist. It was quite Muggle-romance-novel if Lily was to be honest with herself.

A small cough broke them apart. It was a Ravenclaw first year, obviously wandering the stacks for books, not people making-out.

Remus seemed to come to his senses then, letting go of Lily rather suddenly, and backing away. He was determinedly looking anywhere but at Lily. She thought it was rather cute.

"Tell Potter for me, alright?" Lily said with a false sweetness. She noticed the first year Ravenclaw looking extremely confused.

"Right." He paused, finally looking at her, and opening his mouth as if to say something. She wanted him to ask if it was just a joke on James, or more than that. She thought for a brief second he would, but then he closed his mouth rather decisively, and Lily was disappointed.

Instead he said, "Bye Lily." Remus promptly fled the library.

And Lily could almost see his brain hurriedly thinking of excuse to tell James.


End file.
